The Clearlake City Council and the Clearlake Planning Commission are set to hold a joint workshop on Thursday to discuss proposed regulations on medical marijuana dispensaries.
They'll also discuss a second agenda item – added to a revised agenda issued Tuesday – to consider adopting an interim urgency ordinance that would place a temporary moratorium on opening new dispensaries in the city.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
In April of 2007 the Clearlake City Council had approved a yearlong moratorium on medical marijuana within the city limits, as Lake County News has reported.
A year later, they allowed the moratorium to expire but instead decided to enforce city ordinances, which they said prohibited medical marijuana because city rules don't permit business licenses to be granted for any activity that violates federal or state law.
While medical marijuana is permitted in California under the auspices of 1996's Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, it is still considered illegal under federal law, which would mean that it would be excluded in the city.
This past May, the council directed Police Chief Allan McClain and City Administrator Dale Neiman to begin work on draft regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives within the city.
The proposed regulations that came out of that effort are expected to be presented Thursday, but late on Wednesday draft documents still had not been released to the public.
Currently, the county of Lake's Community Development Department is drafting proposed zoning guidelines for where to locate medical marijuana dispensaries and cooperatives. A draft of those regulations is expected by year's end.
In March of 2007 the city of Lakeport passed an ordinance banning all medical marijuana cultivation within the city limits.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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